Huawei P30 and P30 Pro release date, rumours and news

Huawei's P20 Pro was without a shadow of a doubt one of the best smartphones from 2018 and the standard P20 was pretty great too. The Chinese company has therefore set some high expectations for the upcoming P30 and P30 Pro.

This is everything you need to know about Huawei's next flagship smartphones - the P30 and P30 Pro - including any rumours, as well as what we would like to see.

Huawei P30 release date and price

MWC 2019 launch possible

Price upwards of £599

The Huawei P30 and P30 Pro could be announced at Mobile World Congress 2019, which takes place from 25 to 28 February in Barcelona. This would be a little earlier in the year than the P20 and P20 Pro, both of which were announced at a separate event at the end of March 2018, but Huawei did use MWC for the Huawei P10 series in 2017 so its not out of the question.

The show is expected to be the launch platform for several new competitor smartphones too including the LG G8 and Sony's XZ4, while Samsung has also all but confirmed it will announce the Galaxy S10 on 20 February, so it would make sense for Huawei to want some of the limelight.

Huawei has a press conference scheduled for 14:00 CET on 24 February, which is the day before MWC kicks off and the same day Samsung is also expected to hold its MWC event. No details on what will be unveiled at the Huawei conference have been shared as yet though.

In terms of pricing, the P20 launched at £599 and the P20 Pro launched at £799 so we would expect Huawei to follow a similar structure for the P30 series. We certainly don't expect it to be cheaper.

Design and display

Waterdrop notch display reported

Vertical camera arrangements

Waterproofing on both?

Rumours surrounding the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro are expected to pick up over the next few weeks. So far, there have been a couple of case leaks, one of which comes from Olixar through Mobile Fun that we received via email and the other from Slashleaks. There have also been some renders appear of the P30.

Slashleaks

Starting with the case leaks, the Olixar leak presents both the P30 and P30 Pro with waterdrop notches at the top of their displays, like the Huawei Mate 20, and the Slashleak image shows a waterdrop notch for the P30 Pro, supporting the Olixar leak.

The renders of the P30, which appeared on 91mobiles in conjunction with @OnLeaks also show a small water drop notch. They also show a vertically-arranged triple camera system for the P30 and no fingerprint sensor, suggesting it will be positioned under the display.

According to the renders, the P30 will measure 149.1 x 71.4 x 7.5mm, with the camera bump seeing the thickness increase to 9.4mm. They also show a 3.5mm headphone jack on board - something the P20 and many other devices in 2018 got rid of. The Olixar leak also suggests the headphone jack is making a return for both the P30 and P30 Pro.

91Mobiles

Details have yet to appear surrounding the display sizes or other design details, but we'd expect Huawei to continue down the same path as the P20 Series and the more recent Mate 20 series including a premium metal and glass design. We'd also expect to see some interesting finish options again, like the beautiful Twilight finish available on the P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro.

Both the P20 and P20 Pro were less than 8mm thick so we're expecting the P30 and P30 Pro to offer slim designs like the OnLeaks renders suggest and we're also expecting similar display sizes. The P20 has a 5.8-inch screen, while the P20 Pro offers a 6.1-inch screen so the P30 and P30 Pro are likely to be around the same, perhaps larger but within the same footprint.

Mobile Fun / Olixar

The Olixar case leak suggests Huawei will stick to a vertical rear camera arrangement for the P30 series rather than opt for the square arrangement found on the Mate 20 series, which the OnLeaks renders also suggest.

Only the P20 Pro featured and official IP rating but we'd hope to see both the P30 and P30 Pro offering waterproofing given it's a pretty standard feature on most flagship smartphones now.

Huawei P30 and P30 Pro cameras

P30: Triple rear cameras suggested

P30 Pro: Quad rear cameras reported

38MP Sony sensor rumoured for P30 Pro

Based on the Olixar case leak and the OnLeak renders, the Huawei P30 is said to be coming with a triple rear camera system. The P30 Pro meanwhile, is expected to offer quad camera system according to the Olixar cases. Huawei has had a partnership with Leica for the last few years, with the Mate 20 series continuing to offer Leica lenses on the rear so we'd expect to see Leica appear in some form for the the P30 and P30 Pro.

That said, there has been some talk that the Huawei P30 Pro will feature a 38-megapixel Sony IMX607 image sensor. The sensor, which is upcoming but not yet announced, is a 1/1.8 image sensor with a square pixel array. It has been claimed Huawei will be the first manufacturer to use the image sensor.

Either way, we're expecting great things from the P30 Pro device at the very least. The P20 Pro was arguably the smartphone camera king when it first launched with its rear triple system so the P30 Pro has some big shoes to fill. If the case leaks are accurate, it looks like the P30 Pro will offer a similar rear camera layout design to the Samsung Galaxy A9, a device that also offers four vertically aligned camera lenses.

Hardware specifications

Kirin 980 expected

8GB of RAM model for P30 Pro?

Wireless charging expected for P30 Pro

Huawei manufacturers its own chips so the P30 and P30 Pro will no doubt run on the latest Kirin processor - the Kirin 980 - which is the same platform Huawei uses in its Mate 20 Series.

The P20 features 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while the P20 Pro offers 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The Mate 20 Pro meanwhile, offers an 8GB of RAM option with 256GB of storage so we might see the same for the P30 Pro. MicroSD support for storage expansion is also expected.

In terms of battery capacities, the P20 and P20 Pro have 3400mAh and 4000mAh cells under their hoods respectively, so we'd expect around a similar mark for the P30 and P30 Pro. The Mate 20 Pro has a 4200mAh capacity and while we'd be surprised to see the P30 Pro offer the same, we do expect the P30 and P30 Pro to come with quick charging.

Neither the P20 or the P20 Pro offer wireless charging despite their glass backs, but the Mate 20 Pro does so we would expect to see wireless charging capabilities on at least the P30 Pro.

The P30 and P30 Pro will also likely run on Android 9.0 with Huawei EMUI skin over the top.

We will update this feature as more rumours surrounding the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro appear so keep checking back.